Three charged in beating of Cademartori, TomoTherapy to reduce workforce by 12%, Baldwin selected to co-chair Obama's inauguration

A Dane County jury finds Nicole Endres, 29, of DeForest, guilty of homicide by drunken driving. Endres crashed her car last February, killing her 26-year-old passenger, Craig Sawicki, of Beloit. The jury rejected claims that Endres was not driving.

12.18 Thursday

Three men are charged in the beating death of 27-year-old Eduardo Cademartori outside of Crave, a downtown bar. Police say 19-year-old Roynell Fuller, 22-year-old Ross Spang and 20-year-old Javonte Walters, all of Madison, attacked Cademartori, apparently angry because he had tried to take a beer out of the bar. Spang was a Crave employee.

Police arrest Patricia Whitfield, 39, for allegedly stealing Salvation Army kettles. Whitfield is homeless. Rodney Fraher of Madison donates $500 to the Salvation Army, to make up for the money Whitfield allegedly stole.

Carly Batz, 16, of Sun Prairie, is killed when she loses control of her car near Happy Valley Road in the town of Bristol. Police say poor weather is to blame.

TomoTherapy announces it will reduce its workforce by 12%, through layoffs and eliminating vacant positions. The company, which manufactures radiation treatment systems for hospitals, has about 600 employees.

The state Supreme Court decides not to hear Gordon Sussman's appeal. Sussman, who used to own Rutabaga paddle shop, was convicted of child pornography in 2005. He is serving 13 years in prison.

12.19 Friday

Amir Furlow, 19, of Chicago, pleads no contest to charges that he shot and killed 30-year-old Marcus Hamilton at his Tempe Drive apartment in June. Furlow faces up to 60 years in prison.

12.21 Sunday

The journal Nature publishes a major scientific breakthrough from a team of UW-Madison researchers led by Clive Svendsen. The team used stem cells to replicate spinal muscular atrophy, a common genetic cause of infant mortality.

12.22 Monday

Donald Blum, 54, of Monticello, dies of hypothermia, after his car becomes stuck in a snow drift in Green County while he was out delivering the Wisconsin State Journal.

Madison's U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin is one of 15 people named to co-chair President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration. Obama selects Baldwin, the only openly lesbian member of Congress, amid criticism over his choice of the anti-gay Rev. Rick Warren to give the invocation. Baldwin declines to comment on Warren's selection.

Dane County Judge Richard Niess rules that Dane County does not have to release the tape of the 911 call made from Brittany Zimmermann's cell phone the day she was murdered. Four media organizations had sued for the release of the tape. Although Niess agreed there's a public interest in the mishandled call, he decided that releasing the tape could harm the police investigation.

Andrew Clark, 34, of Madison, is sentenced to 40 years in prison for brutal attacks on two women during home invasions last year.